good morning. i'm willie geist and this is "way too early" we would like to be known as big panda. welcome if you're listening on sirius radio, tweet m me @williegeist or text 622639. we'll read the best responses. the next 30 minutes is your cram session for thursday, october 25th. a lot going on including questions about the support of bill clinton has been a good thing for president obama in this campaign? plus, the president on leno, addressing donald trump, describing their childhood together in kenya. that clip a little later in the show. first, let's get to the news live at 5:30 a.m. at 30 rock in new york city. we begin with 12 days and

counting in race to elect our next president. a new "time" magazine poll in ohio, some people say it all comes down to this state, showing the president leading by five points, 49%-44% among likely voter. big advantage for president obama has to do with early voters. among those who have already cast their ballots, obama leading romney by 60% to 30%, according to "time" magazine's poll. those who have yet to decide, though, 45%-45% in this same poll. today mitt romney's scheduled to make no fewer than three stops in ohio. last night in iowa, another battleground states, 2300 supporters packed an airplane han hangar as he claimed his campaign had all the momentum. >> the obama campaign is slipping because it can't find an agenda to help the american family but our campaign is

growing in a movement across this country saying we're going to get america back, america strong and provide for our families. i'm optimistic. we are going to win, by the way. >> this moirng's "new york times" points out team romney knows new enthusiasm isn't opening paths for more electoral votes. while ohio is the most efficient way to win the white house, his campaign keeping a close eye on pennsylvania's electoral votes as a last-ditch option, according to the "new york times." president obama currently on a red eye flight to tampa after a rally there this morning he'll head to richmond, virginia, before a quick stop in chicago to cast his ballot in early voting. he wraps up his last campaign event in washington. before last night's rally in las

vegas, he was in burbank sitting down with jay leno on "the tonight show" and asked about the political firestorm in indiana and remarks by richard muo muordock. >> i don't know how they come up with these ideas. let me make a simple proposition. rape is rape. it is a crime. and so these various distinctions and rape and -- don't make too much sense to me. don't make any sense to me. the second thing this underscores is, this is why you don't want a bunch of politicians, mostly male, making decisions about women's health care decisions. >> indiana's republican nominee for governor, congressman mike pence has urged mourdock to apologize.

so far romney is declining to ask senate nominee to remove a campaign ad from the air featuring romney's endorsement of mourdock's senate bid. earlier in the day the president sat down with brian william, part of exclusive behind the scenes access to president obama on the campaign trail, with just 12 days to go, brian asked the president if he surprised the race is so tight. >> after '08, power of incumbency, you got osama bin laden, you did not expect to be sitting on a more substantial race than we are here? >> no, brian, listen, you have short memory. folks in your business were writing me off a year ago, saying there's no way i would win. so, you know, these things go in ebbs and flows. the one thing i've always tried to be is steady in terms of what i'm believing in, who i'm fighting for. and i think that one of the

qualities i bring to bear in this campaign is people see, what did i say i was going to do in 2008 and what have i delivered and they can have some confidence that the things i say i mean. >> you can see more of brian's interview with the president on the campaign trial tonight on msnbc's "rock center" at 10:00 eastern time. former president bill clinton has been one of the obama campaign's strongest surrogates over the last couple of weeks and months and featured in a new ad that is going to connect obama policies to those in the clinton administration of the 1990s. >> some of the things people are saying about president obama sounds familiar. the same people said my ideas would destroy jobs and they call me every name in the book. well, we created 22 million new jobs and turned deficits into surpluses. president obama's got to right. we should invest in the middle class, education and innovation, and pay down our debt with spending restraint and asking wealthy to pay a little more. sound familiar?

>> i'm barack obama and i approve this message. >> "the new york times" this morning, matt bye, the writer, suggesting president clinton may have hurt the campaign by giving advice. he writes, mr. clinton counselled that independent voters might forgive am romney for having said whatever he had to say to win his party's nomination. ever since the campaign has been hammering mitt romney as too conservative while essentially giving him a pass for having traveled a tortured path on issues like health care reform and abortion and gay rights. some say they're looking for a scapegoat in case president obama loses the election. a suspect is in custody in tunisia for the deadly raid on the american consulate in benghazi. reporting another suspect in the attack was killed in a shootout

in cairo. new information continues to come out about what american official it is knew when about the attack. e-mails sent within 20 minutes of the raid say approximately 20 armed people fired shots, explosions have been heard as well. and 20 minutes later an e-mail to the situation claimed al shariah claims responsibility for benghazi attack. yesterday secretary of state hillary clinton said the e-mail about al shariah was far from conclusive. >> you know, posting something on facebook is not in and of itself evidence. and i think it justund undersco how fluid the reporting was at the time and continued to be for

some time to be. what i keep in mind is four brave americans were killed. and we will find out what happened. we will take whatever measures are necessary to fix anything that needs to be fixed. and we will bring those to justice who committed these murders. >> the militant group in question those e-mails has since denied any attack in the attack. the united states is suing bank of america for fraud, accusing them of toxic loans. the loans originally made by countrywide had defect rates of 40%. according to the department of justice that didn't stop the company, now owned by bank of america, for selling the bad mortgages to fannie mae and freddie mac. let's get a look at the markets. cnbc's julia chatterly is live this morning in london. fill us in on this. >> thanks very much, willie. as you said, we're talking about mortgage loans that were

originated by countrywide, the mortgage broker bank of america bought back in 2008. they ultimately ended up default pentagon. th it refers to loans sold to fannie mae and sfem ffreddie ma. we're talking about direct losses to taxpayers. accused under a process allegedly called "hssl," high speed swim lane. they never moved backwards reducing loan criteria and cutting out some steps that allowed them to get mortgage loans originated far more quickly. bank of america refute the claim they failed to buy back some bad debts. they say they acted responsibly to address some legacy mortgage issues. yes, we have to point out the fact that it's a possibility that they could ultimately win this lawsuit. perhaps the bigger issue is that we could ultimately see more lawsuits like this because it's

hardly likely it will be unique just to bank of america on that back to you. >> federal prosecutors calling it brazen mortgage fraud by countrywide. ahead on "way too early" the san francisco giants stunned justin verlander, the best pitcher in baseball rocked in game one of the world series. thanks to a three-run home run night from that guy, the panda. we'll have those highlights ahead in sports. plus, -- >> now the debates are over, i assume you're glad. >> you know, i was sort of getting the hang of it. >> president obama steps off the campaign trail onto the set of "the tonight show" where he talked to jay about the debates, halloween and donald trump. we'll show you the best of that interview and get a check of early.

can. forces from six krcaribbean and america -- >> president reagan sent a warning to fidel castro with this word, don't surrender. whoa, look at all those toys. insuring that stuff must be a pain. nah, he's probably got... [ dennis' voice ] allstate. they can bundle all your policies together. lot of paperwork. actually... [ dennis' voice ] an allstate agent can help do the switching and paperwork for you. well, it probably costs a lot. [ dennis' voice ] allstate can save you up to 30% more when you bundle.

well, his dog's stupid. [ dennis' voice ] poodles are one of the world's smartest breeds. ♪ bundle and save with an allstate agent. are you in good hands? boring. boring.

[ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring. that's how i met marilyn... giada... really good. yes! [ jack ] ...and alicia. ♪ this girl is on fire [ male announcer ] use any citi® card to get the benefits of private pass. more concerts. more events. more experiences. [ jack ] hey, who's boring now? [ male announcer ] get more access with a citi card. [ crowd cheering, mouse clicks ] just begin with america's favorite soups. bring out chicken broccoli alfredo. or best-ever meatloaf. go to campbellskitchen.com for recipes, plus a valuable coupon. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

rock. a check of weather with bill kari karins. >> all eyes on sandy. yesterday at this time i was saying, all right, we have to watch this. has potential. today is more like, if you live in the mid-atlantic and new england, have you to start thinking in your mind what you need to do to prepare for this storm in case it heads your way. i would say about an 80% chance it will. think about monday, tuesday, kids being home, schools cancel and storm goes by, people without power possibly through next week into next weekend. keep that in mind. that's what you may have to deal

with in those areas. worst case scenario but that's what you need to mentally prepare for. let me break down details of the storm. right now leaving cuba. made landfall last night, intensified, almost a major hurricane. santiago, cuba, was hurt. the rain bands are just off the florida coast. i think this is going to continue throughout the day. by florida standards and hurricanes, this is going to be a glancing blow, rough seas, periods of on and off rain, but little if any damage down there. the storm parallels the coastline of the southeast. i don't think we'll see problems or damage in south carolina or the georgia coastline. north carolina may have to deal with heavy rain. it will be a close call for you. by sunday into monday morning, the storm turns back towards new england. that's when all the issues will occur. the storm will get captured and they'll combine forces. we could be in for a wild period

sunday, monday and tuesday. the trees that will still have leaves on them, that's where we could have millions of people without power. worst case scenario with this storm. the river flooding in northern new england which appears at this point to get the heaviest rains. coastal flooding, astronomical high tide, full moon. high tide cycles with onshore winds will be brutal with storm surge. all of new england as far as long island and new england is at risk. a lot of elements to this storm. four to five days out. i can fine-tune it as we get clos closer. hopefully we'll-t will turn out to sea but it doesn't look like that will happen. today just fine on the eastern seaboard, no problems. and midwest, thunderstorms and showers to deal with. i'm throwing the word out, historical, we've never had a hurricane from this region come up into new england so we don't have much to compare to. irene last year, then you can go

back to hazel in the '50s, but most people don't remember that so this has a chance to be one for the record books. >> to underline it for people on the east coast, when will they feel impact? >> florida today and tomorrow but big impacts sunday north carolina, up through mid-atlantic, monday into tuesday morning. >> early in the week. thanks for keeping an eye on it. let's turn to sports. game one of the world series between giants and tigers in san francisco. ra cy young winner justin verlander making the start on a lot of rest and he was rusty. pablo sandoval gets one over the center field wall. giant with a 1-0 lead on that solo shot. his big night just getting started. third inning, giant up 2-0. sandoval going the other way off verlander. two-run home run, sneaks over the wall. giants up big there. verlander allowed -- had allowed

just two runs in his previous three starts this postseason. gave up five in just four innings last night. meanwhile, barry zito dealing, triking out danny wuertz to retire the side. last time the giants were in the world series, zito was not even on the postseason roster. this postseason, an e.r.a. under 2.00. bottom of the fifth, sandoval again puts a good swing on it and home run number three. that's a bomb. 435 feet to dead center, makes is 6-0, giants. sandoval joins babe ruth, reggie jackson and albert pujols as the only players in history to hit three home runs in a world series game. giant win 8-3 behind panda's big night. verlander winless in his first world series starts. tigers hope for a better outcome tonight when necessity send doug fister to the mound against mad some baumgardner.

president obama won't get a chance to see a whole lot of the world series but when asked to choose between tigers and giants, the president did not hesitate to pick a winner. >> this is one of those presidential decisions, no matter what you say it's going to upset some people. you're going to vegas, going to place a bet on the world series, who you got? >> they're both great teams. detroit beat -- they beat my white sox out of a pennant, so they're an outstanding team. i will say that, you know, i have spent a lot of time in detroit lately, and, you know, i didn't want to let detroit go bankrupt. >> right, right. >> so, there's -- in this particular world series i may be a little partial. >> san francisco fans might not be thrilled with that pick but it's probably not going to cost him the state of california, i'm guessing. coming up at the top of the

hour on "morning joe" with 12 days until the electric, wall-to-wall swing state campaigning as new polling from ohio shows how early voting could impact the race. we'll have "morning joe" crew coming up. and we'll huddle up the water cooler with president obama paying his visit to the tonight shoe talking about his up and down debate performance and donald trump. when you take a closer look... ...at the best schools in the world... ...you see they all have something very interesting in common. they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students.

let's solve this. that bringing you better technology helps make you a better investor. with our revolutionary e-trade 360 dashboard you see exactly where your money is and what it's doing live. our e-trade pro platform offers powerful functionality that's still so usable you'll actually use it. and our mobile apps are the ultimate in wherever whenever investing. no matter what kind of investor you are, you'll find the technology to help you become a better one at e-trade.

the state of ohio has the attention of both campaigns as we head down the stretch with president obama and mitt romney making stops there today. ohio remains the most viable option to win but mitt romney's op-ed "let detroit go bankrupt." one in eight jobs in ohio could be linked to the auto industry. that means 850,000 people owe their jobs to the production of automobiles. let's huddle up around the water cooler laugh off donald trump on "the tonight show."

donald trump offered $5 million to obama's charity if obama released his college transcripts. >> what's this thing with you and trump. it's like me and letterman. i don't get it. >> this dates back to when we were growing up together in kenya. >> i got to give you that one. got to give you that one. >> we had constant run-ins on the soccer field. you know, he wasn't very good. resented it, you know. >> have you -- >> when we finally moved to america i thought it would be over, but -- >> no, no. >> jay also asked the president about his somewhat sleepy performance at that first presidential debate. >> now, the debates are over, i assume you're glad? >> you know, i was sort of getting the hang of it.

clearly i had a bad night because the whole point of these debates is to make sure the american people understand the stakes. and everything i was saying was true, but if you don't have the energy and the presentation that makes people kind of snap up and say, all right, i get it, then you're not -- then you're not doing your job. this is not a natural way of communicating. you're sitting next to somebody and having an extended argument with them like that. >> well, you're married. >> well, i am. but the difference is, is that with michelle, i just concede every point. >> yeah, yeah. >> we keep saying 12 days until election day. it's only six days, more importantly, to halloween. jay asked president obama about white house preparation. >> i know last year michelle gave out fruit. did the white house get egged at all? >> no, no. it is true, michelle takes this healthy eating seriously, but it is an election year, so candy

for everybody. especially -- and if anybody comes from ohio to the white house, they will get a hershey bar about this big. it will be like -- it will be huge. >> still ahead on "way too early," your halloween team, tweets, texts and e-mails next. my insurance rates are probably gonna double.

but, dad, you've got... [ voice of dennis ] allstate. with accident forgiveness, they guarantee your rates won't go up just because of an accident. smart kid. [ voice of dennis ] indeed. are you in good hands?

that makes tv even better. if your tv were a prom queen, zeebox would be a stretch limo. with this enchanting union, comes a sunroof she can scream from... i'm goin' to prom! [ male announcer ] ...and a driver named bruce that she can re-name james... faster, james! [ male announcer ] ...just 'cause. download zeebox free, and have the night of your life with your tv. we asked you at the top of the show what you're doing up this hour? >> i was woken up by an angry squirrel that was screeching loudly. >> does a squirrel screech? i would like to hear how that story ended. please update us. >> i'll keep you posted. hauling 20 tons of beef to portland, oregon. >> is that a euphemism for something? hauling 20 pound of beef to portland, oregon.